We love pancakes in this house. It's been a long standing tradition to have pancakes (or waffles) on Sunday. We had a great recipe for good old fashioned pancakes with white flour & sugar.

When I started changing my lifestyle and eating, pancakes disappeared from the menu for a while - until I decided to experiment with some healthier versions. I consulted Google and found a recipe by The Paleo Running Momma and decided to try my own from scratch. Instead of white flour, a tapioca flour and coconut flour mix is used, along with mashed banana, eggs and coconut milk. SUCCESS! These Paleo banana coconut flour pancakes are so perfectly fluffy, moist and sweet that you won't believe they're grain free, dairy free, and refined sugar free!

They were light, fluffy, rose well and absolutely delicious. The boys downed them pretty quick, I was so happy with them. Below is the recipe, which is the original from Paleo Running Momma with only 1 small change (I used rice malt syrup instead of maple).

Please don't assume that just because these are 'Paleo' that they aren't as good as 'the real thing'. Give them a go. It's a great alternative if you're GF or are trying to stay away from white flour - or even if you're not.

I get creative with toppings - some of our faves are fresh cut fruit salad with coconut yogurt, frozen berries heated in a pan for 10 mins and poured on top (YUM) and todays experiment was banana, pear and peanut butter. They are wonderful plain with maple syrup too.

Here's the recipe!

Paleo Banana Pancakes

Ingredients

3 eggs

2 small/med overripe bananas mashed well

1/2 cup almond or coconut milk

1-2tbsp pure maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

6Tbsp coconut flour

3Tbsp tapioca flour (buckwheat flour also works well)

1/2tsp baking soda

Pinch salt

coconut oil for greasing pan/griddle

Instructions

Whisk together all wet ingredients. Combine the dry ingredients separately, then add them to the wet mixture and stir until well combined and smooth.

Heat a fly pan over med low/med heat. These pancakes will cook more evenly if they cook on a lower setting for a bit longer. They will burn if too hot!

Coat the pan with a thin layer of coconut oil, no too much, since you will add more after each batch.

Spoon the batter by about 3-4 tbsp carefully into the hot pan and smooth into an even circle, 3-4 inches in diameter. Do not crowd! You can keep the cooked pancakes on a parchment lined baking sheet in 200 degree oven until ready to eat.

Allow each pancake to cook on one side until edges are dry, bubbles form on the surface and the bottom is deep golden. Carefully flip and cook the second side until golden. Repeat for all pancakes, greasing the pan lightly with coconut oil between batches and adjusting the heat as necessary.

One thing I love about winter, is hot oats / porridge in the morning when it's cold outside. With it getting a bit cooler in the mornings, I decided to start experimenting with overnight oats as I'd seen a few Instagram stories about how easy they are. They actually couldn't be any easier! Once you get the quantities right, they are also pretty hard to beat for creaminess and taste.

My absolute favourite thing is that these are made in advance, so in the morning you just grab them out of the fridge and heat if desired. You can actually make several days worth in advance if you like and have a weeks worth of breakfasts good to go. The flavour combo's are also endless and kids love them. This week we have had banana & vanilla, feijoa & pear (feijoa is a fruit found in New Zealand) and peanut butter with banana. All have been great. The recipe I'm sharing with you today is a plain base that you then just add your fruit to it, or have it on it's own, it's great as is.

I suggest saving your jars and use a wider neck if possible.

Versatile recipes are the best, and you can adapt this one to suit your dietary requirements. I make it dairy free (also vegan) by using plant based coconut or almond milk & coconut yogurt, but you can totally make it with full fat milk or yogurt. To make itgluten free, use gluten free oats.

Hot summer days mean salads for dinner in our house, and I admit, I'm not the most original in my salads usually (green salad anyone?), so I have been experimenting with new salads over the past month and this is one of my new faves.

This salad is simple, refreshing & tasty. You can change up the flavour by mixing through whatever salad dressing you think will go with it (would be lovely with a creamy dressing) or I have popped a basic recipe for a lemon dressing that I really like.My advice would be to not add the dressing until you are serving, as the chopped salad stays fresh in the fridge for 3 days without the dressing. Just add dressing as you serve.

Make it is easy, and just two steps - quick chopping of the raw ingredients, and roasting up the crunchy stuff in the oven.

First, prepare the chickpeas and almonds. If using canned chickpeas, drain and dry with a paper towel. In a bowl, toss in olive oil and mix through the morroccan seasoning.Place the chickpeas on a lined baking try and add the almonds. Bake for 15-20 mins at 180 degrees.

Next place the salad ingredients in a bowl for serving. You can use any dressing you fancy or have handy, I make the following and it's super yum, simple and quick.Mix up the following in a bowl; extra virgin olive oil, whole grain mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper

We have a few staples in our house that have been around for donkeys years. We all have them, reliable family favourites that you make time and again. One of our favourites is Egg Slice. I started making it when I was pregnant as freezer meals as it freezes so perfectly and you can pack so much into it. Even when I make it now I usually double up and freeze one for when I can't be bothered to cook! The vegetable content is dependant on whatever is in my fridge at the time, you can switch out any veggies for your family faves. Usually added to the below I would have capsicum/peppers and zucchini as well.

You will get better taste if you use free range eggs. We are lucky to have 5 chickens on our property who lay the most amazing eggs, Aiden likes to go and collect the eggs before I make it and he often helps as it's a very quick and easy recipe. It should take no more than 45 mins including the 30 min bake time.

As I'm trying to stay away from higher carbs, I decided to try making it with almond flour instead of plain white flour and low and behold, it was BETTER than the original. WIN! I wrote down the winning recipe straight after dinner, here it is!

Really yummy served with avocado or fresh tomatoes, or side green salad.